Man City make Kaka bid
Manchester City have opened talks with Italian side AC Milan over a possible world record transfer bid of £100 million for Brazilian playmaker Kaka.
A City delegation led by chief executive Garry Cook flew to Italy on Tuesday to begin negotiations and are reported to be willing to pay Kaka a weekly wage of £250,000 or £13.65 million per season.
Milan owner Silvio Berlusconi could only claim he was "hopeful" that Kaka would remain at the San Siro and sources claimed that City want the 26-year-old "at all costs".
While there was no official word from Eastlands, Berlusconi's assessment suggests the transfer may go through.
Mediaset, a company owned by Berlusconi, reported: "This time they (Manchester City) are here for real with an official delegation''
"Manchester City want Kaka at all costs and they have shown their cards. Garry Cook, two representatives of Sheik Mansour and Kia Joorabchian, who is acting as a mediator, met with Adriano Galliani and Ernesto Bronzetti (Milan's chief executive and commercial director) and made their offer," said the report.
It has been suggested that the visit of Newcastle United on January 28 has been pencilled in as a potential debut day for the former world footballer of the year, deposed by Cristiano Ronaldo on Monday.
Whilst City remain in a relegation dogfight, the prospect of seeing Kaka in action will excite every Blues fan.
Yet Hughes insists he is not a fan of the transfer window, which could yet lead one of the world's biggest names to his club.
"I don't particularly like the transfer window because you have to wait to address things that could be sorted out a lot more quickly under the old system," Hughes told the Manchester Evening News.
"I am sure there were reasons behind bringing in a transfer window in the first place but I cannot fathom what they were.
"There have been weaknesses in our squad for quite some time and I have not had the opportunity to address them.
"Now we get to January and prices are inflated and the expectations are heightened. I don't think it is a healthy situation."
Cook has now returned to Manchester and will await permission to talk with Kaka. However, one deal that seems to be inching closer is for West Ham's firebrand striker Craig Bellamy.
Hughes has worked with Bellamy twice before and sees the Welshman as a valuable addition to his squad. It seems West Ham are finally on the brink of allowing the player to leave provided City reach their £10 million valuation.